Ball to give keynote address at anti-immigrant forum in Danbury this weekend

[Jeff Green]

Folks,

There's going to be an anti-immigrant forum run by a decidedly racist organization in Danbury this weekend and State Assemblyman Greg Ball is the keynote speaker.

The organization sponsoring the forum calls itself the "United States Citizens For Immigration law Enforcement" and while they bury a "this ain't no racsit site" disclaimer on their web page, an easy reading of it tells a different story.

For example, they don't understand the history of this continent. In one article they display a map with "Aztlan" naming the American southwest and calling these states the NEW Mexico. Had they paid attention in grammar school they would have learned that those states WERE Mexico until they became a prize in a war fought for no other reason than to obtain those lands for American expansionism. For a very long time afterwards and into the 20th century, the predominate language and culture was Mexican. It should not seem unusual that this part of the nation attracts a lot of Mexican immigrants.

(Aztlan is the ancient land which bore the native Mexica and from which they migrated in 830CE to settle on Lake Texcoco. The great Aztec city Tenochtitlan was the result. Myths corroborated by Aztex codex tells us Aztlan was "far to the north" of the area now known as Mexic(a) City)

Then there are the headlines like:

• "Doing jobs Americans won't do??" Illegal Alien rapes 6-year old girl
• Creative financing!. Illegal Alien Uses Baby as Car Payment
• Illegal Aliens able to vote in US elections.
  

And this little gem:

OVER 9,000 AMERICANS ARE KILLED BY ILLEGAL ALIENS EVERY YEAR IN THE UNITED STATES. Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens. Whats wrong with this picture?In fact, more Americans are killed at the hands of illegal aliens every year in America than in all the conflicts and terrorists attacks and bombings since the end of the Vietnam War COMBINED!!! Death toll in 2006 far overshadows total U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, Afghanistan.

Hmmm... there's no mention of the death toll from heart disease due to red meat or to the 1200 people a day that die from smoking. But then, it's hard to hate a "thing" when a person is so much easier to hate.

Keeping the discussion on immigration in perspective is vitally important.

In the past there was no one to demonstrate in favor of being nice to whichever immigrant wave came after you got here. The Germans hated the Irish. The Irish hated the Italians and of course, everyone hated the Jews.

That landscape was filled with "No Irish Need Apply" and "No Hebrews" on signs posted in stores, employment offices and restaurants and resorts. There were meetings and demonstrations and marches with the goal of sending the "(fill in the blank)" back! and people used the same language as is being used by these extremists today. In the end, each group is here and firmly assimilated into in the hodgepodge we call American culture. A never ending process. There will always be people who are afraid of those who are not like themselves and fear the loss of what they perceive as their personal culture.

(Personally, I'm not all that proud of Britney Spears, million dollar baseball players and American Idol. That's a culture I'm happy to lose!)

The discussion on immigration does not need to sink to the abysmal depths used by USCFILE and other organizations like them. If their goal is simple adherence to the law they don't need the fear-mongering, the naked hatred and the racism that is clearly evident on their webpage. They could take the elevated and educated academic role or they could be whiny assholes. They've chosen the latter.

It is upsetting to see a NY State Assemblyman aligning himself with these extremists since when he lowers himself he lowers the voters of his district.

I encourage you to let Mr. Ball know how you feel.

JmG